Page 49 of Restless
Dad shrugged. “He said as long as Bash knows my ass know, everything will be fine. Cee Cee was a vile motherfucker. Since my ass fucked him up, Bash ain’t wantin’ no attention from me.”
“Dad, Molly’s pregnant.” CJ threw those words into the third dimension he currently dwelled in. Not only wasn’t DadOutlaw, but he also wasn’t even a biker…
Aleader.
“You fucked Ryan’s girl?”
“No, Dad, the baby belongs to Ryan or Bash.”
“Bash? Ain’t Molly a kid?”
Hence the concern. “Exactly the fucking issue! She’s turning seventeen in January.”
Dad stared at CJ, his disconnect alarming. CJ had never seen his father so out-of-touch with his role as the club’s president and general bad ass. He was standing there as if he were an ordinary man, a father with an on edge teenage son, and a husband with a wife who’d almost died recently.
Death, be not proud. Love, be not fickle.
Between his parents, love wasn’t. It was that ‘ever-fixed mark’ Shakespeare wrote of in Sonnet 116. Nothing else mattered to his father right now, until Mom was home and well.
That was the type of love CJ wanted one day. Even though it was all-encompassing between Mom and Dad, it blanketed their entire family. Their parents loved him and his siblings, so he’d back off for now in regard to Bash. He’d go to Uncle Mort so Harley would be safe. However, Molly was his friend, too, and needed his help.
“Molly doesn’t want the baby, Dad.”
“Okay, son.”
“Okay? What the fuck do you mean,okay?”
“Molly ain’t wantin’…Molly don’t want her kid.”
“You’re judging her.”
“I ain’t! Fuck, I’m not.”
“You just said that she doesn’t want her kid in a tone that suggested you’re judging her.”
“Ain’t…isn’t—”
“Stop fucking correcting yourself, Dad! I love you whether you say ain’t or isn’t.”
“That’s what Megan always say.”
“Dad, focus. Please. You told me to talk to you. I need you to hear me. I don’t need you to judge Molly.”
“You wanna…do youwant tofuck Molly?”
Thrusting his fingers through his hair, CJ gnashed his teeth together.
“Fuck, you do.”
“No, Dad. I don’t. I want to help her. She’s my friend. You raised me and my brothers to protect girls. You raised us to respect girls. Molly. Needs. Help. Bash. Is. Hurting. Her.”
“How can I protect her when I can’t even protect your ma?”
“Mom was pregnant, Dad.Pregnant. You couldn’t protect her from what happened to her.”
“I coulda…could’ve…kept my cock outta…out of…”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” CJ growled, fed the fuck up. His father had lost his fucking mind and Uncle Johnnie was…fuck, Uncle Johnnie.
